The Norse said it was the spears of the Valkyries leading fallen soldiers to Valhalla. The Finns called it Revontulet — "fire fox." They imagined the wild arctic foxes coursing through the sky. As they ran, their bushy tails brushed against the mountains, creating sparks that lit up the sky.
The Algonquin believed it was Nanabozho, Creator of the Earth, who lived in the north. They told stories of how he would light a huge fire, the flames burning bright to let his people know he was still thinking of them.
The common name coined by Galileo: Aurora, Roman goddess of the dawn. Boreas, Greek god of the north wind. Aurora Borealis, the north wind of dawn.
Last week, near midnight, I turned my eyes northward and glimpsed the aurora from my backyard in Oregon. The most significant aurora in two decades, it was visible from cities in unusually low northern latitudes all over the world.
We now have science, tools, and data — which are fascinating in their own right — to help us understand this phenomenon. But thousands of years ago, humans only had the power of storytelling. From generation to generation, stories were what we used to shape our understanding, define The Unknown, and strengthen cultures. And we still use them today.
Facts and data help us trust an idea. Story is what makes it last.
The very 1980s teal carpet of Portland International Airport was a cult favorite, complete with its own Wikipedia page and merchandise, until it was removed in 2015. The classic carpet is returning to PDX in its new terminal, and as one passionate YouTube commenter said, “I can finally be happy again.” Welcome home, carpet.
Coined by John Koenig, creator of “The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows,” liberosis is a word we didn’t know we needed: “the desire to care less about things; to figure out a way to relax your grip on your life and hold it loosely and playfully, keeping it in the air like a volleyball, with quick and fleeting interventions, bouncing freely in the hands of trusted friends, always in play.”
In 2019, Oatly global CCO John Schoolcraft spoke about the company’s approach to marketing, or lack thereof. He asks the question, “What could possibly go wrong if you put creatives in the middle of a food company and just let them work?” The answer is that a lot could go right.
